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Saturday, June 19, 2010

Dead Girls Don't Write Letters - Gail Giles

Summary: When Sunny's older sister, Jazz ran away to New York, Sunny was secretly relieved. Everyone loved Jazz, talked about Jazz, wished they were friends with Jazz. Jazz was perfect and Sunny was...well, not Jazz.

Then Jazz's apartment building burns to the ground and she is presumed dead. Sunny's family, already broken by divorce, unravels. Dad's drinking skyrockets, and Mom's depression hits an all-time non-functioning low. Sunny is left to cope.

Then they get a letter from Jazz saying she is coming home. But how? Jazz is dead, right? (Image from www.randombuzzers.com and summary from back of the book)

My Review: Atmosphere is typically not something I find in YA books. But, this one has it. There are multiple times where you wonder just what kind of trouble this girl has found herself in. Fast and by the end, disturbing are probably the best descriptors for this YA book. The whole time you're thinking the main character is the sane one... and then the end, well, I'll let you read and decide for yourself. So weird. Kinda creepy. Leaves you hanging and slightly confused. I read it in about 2 hours after a student in my class said it left her confused despite being a good read. I think this could easily pull in the reluctant reader and make reading seem successful at only 128 pages. I thoroughly enjoyed this fast read.

My Rating: 4.5 stars (for Young Adults). I really want to give this 5 stars, but when you compare it to Hunger Games or Jane Eyre...well, it just doesn't measure up. It's close though.

3 comments:

Your review made me want to pick up this book, and I'm glad I did. I really enjoyed this book too, but the ending got me a little confused. Weird, weird. I might need to re-read some parts at the end. Thanks for the review on it. Great recommendation.

I'm so glad you liked it too. It is just a weird ending. Has you questioning the rest of the book and wanting to re-read. I might just do that next year with one of my classes and freak them out a bit. :)

I read this book in about a whole of 4 hours, cause im a slow reader. I have rcently taken up the hobby, and im addicted. For some reason, I always seem to go for the young adult books that havew to do with some sort of emotional or mental problems. After I read this book, i was a bit confused by the ending. So, i googleed "Dead Girls Dont Write Letters ending". I came across the authors website, where she gave a little bit of insight about the ending. According to her, it is written so that you can interprit the book in 2 totally different ways. I like the way you have you review set up. You dont really gived the book away, but you let everyone know its confusing. I have a feeling im going to like this website. ;)